Page 13 - PIP

Clément Layes collaborated with Jasna L. Vinovrški on the set design for her performance 'Ansambl', for her performance 'Lady Justice' he was a stage and artistic advisor and for her performance 'Under Construction' he was involved in the development of the scenography and the video. The performance 'Staying Alive' was created and performed by Jasna L. Vinovrški in collaboration with two nonhumans: a tablet and a book. Jasna L. Vinovrški and Clément Layes are interested in a form of non-exclusive collaboration that cultivates their differences and diverse fields of expertise. Hence, they affirm what the philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy has called a “we" that is not predicated on the subjection of the involved entities to one common ideology, identity or project. By pursuing two different aesthetics and artistic trajectories while collaborating in the artistic processes of one another, the two choreographers foster artistic autonomy while still being dedicated to mutual support. In times in which collaboration has also become a buzzword in the context of neoliberal capitalism, which propagates collaborative working modes in view of an enhancement of profits and output, the tension between the shared and the singular is crucial for innovative modes of working together.
The collaborative spirit of Jasna L. Vinovrški and Clément Layes cannot be grasped by merely considering the way in which the two artists work together. It should be seen in the context of several experimental platforms and events they co-established, co-facilitated and fostered and in which many other artists from the free scene in Berlin were involved: the 3AM Events (2014 – 2017) at Atelierhouse Flutgraben, the Flutgraben Performances (since 2019) and Montag Modus Klimata (since 2019). Launched by Jasna L. Vinovrški, Dmitry Paranyushkin and Clément Layes 3AM was invented to provide an opportunity to test different approaches of sharing artistic processes and works
(in the making) with an audience in a rather informal atmosphere – outside of established institutions. The presentations (that altogether involved more than 200 artists and 4000 audience members) were mostly followed by a DJ set. 3AM aimed at countering consumption-oriented attitudes in the reception of artworks, as audience members were asked to contribute to the realization of the event by taking care of and assuming responsibility for small tasks like preparing the spaces, washing the dishes, serving drinks at the bar or cleaning the venue after the event. In this way, the events emphasized the importance of sharing and common reflection.
Flutgraben Performances (initiated by Sandra Man, Moritz Majce, Clément Layes and Jasna L. Vinovrški) is a series of four events each year in which 10 artists present their artistic works before or after their official premiere. In this way the artists maintain a sustained dialogue with each other, providing insights into how their works transform, grow and develop. Montag Modus Klimata was a year long interdisciplinary project curated by the collective MMpraxis. In five subsequent events, artists from Berlin and Budapest presented performances and installations at Collegium Hungaricum or at Atelierhouse Flutgraben.
The engagement in and the organization of these events and platforms shows that Public in Private strives to strengthen the local performing arts scene and supports encounters and exchange. The company keeps on experimenting with divergent modes of how to create, present and perceive art – elements which it considers to be in constant entanglement with one another – while involving its social context rather than creating a private working sphere with exclusive art events. This aim is also expressed in the text "Private for free" by Public in Private (2017): "De-privatizing ourselves goes along with the creation and the invention of a new being in culture and in relation. Every gesture, words, acted outside of the private are nowadays a form of poetry, a revolution towards the reign of property.”
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